Adocks knocked out of YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships

Luke Baker

Chris Adcock admits producing an incredibly gutsy display is scant consolation after a devastating quarter-final loss at the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham.

Playing alongside wife Gabby, Adcock lost a final-set thriller, going down 21-14, 18-21, 21-19 to fourth seeds Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir in the mixed doubles at the Barclaycard Arena on Friday.

The Brits were slow out of the blocks as the Indonesian duo, who have won the All England title for the past three years, raced into a 5-0 lead before securing the first set in relatively comfortable fashion.

But the Adcocks battled back, with Chris’ overhead smash particularly effective, edging the second 21-18 and reaching 18-18 in the decider before the reigning champions broke the home crowd’s hearts.

And while Chris knows there will be plenty to build on in the long-run, he claims he is almost inconsolable not to pull out the victory in the short-term.

“It is devastating to lose,” he said. “We got ourselves into a winning position after a really tough start – we worked really hard to get there but they took their points at the end.

“It’s hard to think back at the exact point but we did have chances. You just can’t make those errors at key points – they didn’t and we did. We’re really gutted right now.

“At the time we were very happy to bounce back and win the second set and in time – a few hours, days, weeks, years – we might feel better about it but at the minute it’s quite hard to reflect on what we did well.

“Obviously we did some things well because we pushed a pair that haven’t lost here in four years, right to the end.

“And I think you saw from their reaction that we really had them scared. I genuinely thought we had them.”

Although they are understandably distraught by the narrow defeat, the Adcocks’ display against a world-class pair bodes well for the rest of the season.

And with the Olympic qualification period starting in May, Gabby acknowledges that all roads now lead to Rio.

“The Olympics are in our mind but more towards the back of them at the minute,” she added.

“We’ve got a lot of short-term goals and this was one of them – to come here and perform.

“There are the World Champs and the European Champs coming up but our ultimate aim will be Rio. It is exciting – there is so much we can improve on, we’re still young.”

Tickets for the YONEX All England 2015 at the stunning new Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham are available on the door or online at allenglandbadminton.com.